One of the easiest and fastest ways to grow your following on Twitter is by purchasing followers from providers. This is an age-old practice that is being utilized by celebrities, brands and online personalities and they have immensely benefited from it.

Purchasing followers should take the hard part out of building credibility online, right? Wrong! The internet is saturated with social media boosting companies who will try to lure you in with attractively cheap price tags. Below we discuss why people and businesses buy these followers, and the benefits and risks associated with them.

We also rounded up some of the most important tips you will ever need to avoid losing Twitter followers you might have bought. Get your popcorn ready because we will go through everything you need to know about keeping those numbers up.

“You have chosen… wisely…”

So, you have to ask yourself, “How can I accomplish this… wisely,” as the old man from Indiana Jones once said. Typing “Where to buy Twitter followers” on your search bar is the equivalent of walking in a crowded flea market where every store owner wants to lure you in with their amazingly-low deals – and we know how fun that can be.

There are hundreds of providers out there who will promise you 10,000 followers for cheap but you have to be a smart shopper and in order to do that you must look behind the price tag and at the quality itself. Providers who are able to provide a ridiculously high number of followers for cheap and still make a profit from it are to be doubted.

If you look at it closely, these providers basically invest nothing in providing their services and reap all of the profit. Providing high quality followers implores social media marketing techniques that do not come cheap for any earnest professional. What this means is that there is a huge chance lower priced providers are cutting corners in order to give you those irresistibly low deals.

Now, we will not leave you high and dry just like that. You’ll know cheap followers when you see them, even Donald Trump’s mass of fake followers can be clearly seen with every empty profile that retweets him. That’s right, you and Hillary Clinton can buy retweets as well! Below, you will find some of the most important things you have to look for in a provider to know whether what they are selling you is actually beneficial to your growth. Make sure you take notes because you are about to be schooled in the ABCs of spotting a reputable Twitter follower provider:

History

One of the most important things you have to look into is a company or a provider’s history. This should tell you how long they have been in the business and should also provide you with an overview of their general reputation in the industry.

Shady social media boosting companies come and go but those who manage to stay are the ones worth considering. Find out where the company is based, how long they have been around and what kind of reputation they have. Scour their websites, check out reviews, join forums and do what you have to do in order to get the facts. Heck, go to their Twitter and just scroll, scroll, and scroll until you see how many years it’s been active!

Retention Rate

Retention rate simply means how long the followers stay with you even after the purchase. Lower priced providers are known for selling followers that come and go on a daily basis – giving you a fluctuating metric that changes by the hour. What you want is a company with a high retention rate – that means they rarely see a drop in followers and they guarantee it for a period of time.

Type of Followers

Just as there are different types of providers, there are also different types of followers out there. One of the most notoriously annoying kind of follower are the bot-followers. Bot followers are fake or generated followers that are an equivalent of death threats to your Social Proof – or online credibility. While they do serve their purpose in providing you with impressive numbers, purchasing high volumes of low quality followers can actually cause you more harm than good. For one thing, they come and go so fast that the number of followers you have will fluctuate almost on a daily basis – this is because these types of followers are often easily detected, and thus deleted, by Twitter engineers.

Premium followers are followers with high retention rate and have unique, complete profiles. These followers rarely unfollow and remain on your list for at least a year – in most cases, they’re on there forever. When it comes to followers, going premium is always the best and safest way to go.

Policies and Guarantees

One of the most important things you have to look into when looking for a provider is the policies and guarantees they offer customers. This shows how far a company is willing to go in order to protect their customers and keep them happy with their services. You wouldn't want to end up with a company who will dump you truckloads of fake followers and run away with your money – never to be heard from ever again.

Below, we have listed some of the common guarantees that are offered by some of the most reputable providers in the industry:

Replacement Guarantee – In an event where you notice a decline in your following, do they replace it? Most companies offer auto-replacement, that means a follower that is lost is automatically replaced. Be sure to look for a company who won’t leave you high and dry after you close the deal.

Retention Guarantee – Look for a company that can vouch for their follower’s lifespan. A reputable provider is someone who can guarantee that their followers will stay with you for at least a year.

Refund Policy – Each company’s refund policy varies so be sure to read the fine print and familiarize yourself on the guidelines in availing a refund.

As mentioned, never let the price tag dictate your decision in choosing a provider. You are better off paying a little bit more for premium and authentic followers than with a militia-sized troupe of fake bots.

There is also danger hidden in purchasing fake followers from less than earnest providers. Barracuda Networks, a Security solutions firm, conducted a study and discovered that there are dangers to the proliferation of fake followers. According to their chief researcher Paul Judge “Hackers spend a lot of time preying on social networks, and they’ll try any method to do it and when we looked at Twitter, we saw that attackers have become very efficient at utilizing the viral features in Twitter to carry own attacks, which are found in those fake follower accounts.”

Make sure to do ample amount of research before choosing a provider. Look at as much review websites as you can, read feedback from past customers and put those detective skills to work!

No Turning Back Now!

Once you have found a provider that has your best interest in mind, now is the time to come up with a good strategy that can help you avoid losing your hard earned followers – whether they are bought or not.

If you are serious about making it big on Twitter then buckle up because we have some of the most important tips you will ever need to keep those numbers up! It may take some work from your end but it will all be worth it in the end, trust us.

Tip #1: Don’t be Shady.

The internet is already filled with shady people, don’t be one of them. Fill up your bio completely and pick a profile picture that best represents you or your brand. In choosing your profile picture, be sure to choose one that is easily recognizable – this will serve as your face on the internet so make sure to look your best! Your header is also a prime piece of internet real estate so make sure to use it wisely. Choose a header that will tell people more about you.

Tip #2: Live up to their Expectations.

No, not your parents’, your followers. Although, you should do that, too (live up to your parents’ expectations). When you claim your identity online, be sure to follow through with it. Say you claim to be the “Go-to Guy for All Things Spaghetti” (we don’t judge), then be sure to follow through with it and be the gosh darn best resource person for all things related to spaghetti! Nothing makes a follower click that unfollow button faster than an a user who doesn’t fall through with their promises.

Tip #3: Tweet Just Right.

Tweeting is a science all on its own and it is easier to mess up than you think. Saturating your followers’ feed with over 30 tweets in an hour can annoy them and cause them to hit the unfollow button. Under delivering is also not an option in the Twitter-verse, doing so makes you forgettable and if your organic followers decide to clean up their feed, you will be one of the first ones to go.

According to Socialbakers, brands and personalities see a decline in engagement after the third tweet. Below is a graph that summarizes their findings based on an experiment performed using 11,000 tweets from some of the biggest brands around the world.

Of course, this does not mean that you should limit yourself to just three tweets per day. You can determine the ideal posting frequency that is tailored to your account by performing your own little experiment using Twitter Analytics – find out what works for your followers and measure the feedback you receive from your posts. This should give you a rough idea on how frequently you should post without flooding your followers with updates by the minute – hey, but if that works for you might as well run with it!

Tip #4: Take Advantage of the Trends and Busiest Hours.

Being on top of trending topics is one sure fire way to remain relevant although this doesn't mean you should jump on every trending topic there is. Be sure to find ones that are related to your niche`. If your niche` is far too specific, you can always choose a trending topic and respond in a way that is relatable to your audience. Buffer is a free service that will automatically suggest ideal times for you to tweet.

Tip #5: It’s Social Media for a Reason – So, Socialize.

You can never go wrong with acknowledging your followers. Tweet them back, reply to all your @mentions, like their tweets – socialize. Make sure to use your platform to reach out to as much followers as you can, and dedicate a time in your day where you respond to all of them. If they know you are listening, they will not hesitate to start conversations about you – or even better, with you.

Tip #6: Don’t be Annoying.

Earlier we talked about not saturating your followers’ feeds with 30 tweets at a time, now we talk about your behavior on the platform in general. Be cautious in becoming overly self-promotional – this can throw followers off really fast. Also, rehashing topics that are dead and worn out can cost you your followers so be sure to just stay within the topics that concern your followers at the moment. There are plenty of content ideas for you to Tweet about online if you hit a dead-end and just need some inspiration.

Dropping links without additional information can seem shady and is annoying to most Twitter users. If you want to share a link to your readers, be sure to provide a description just so they know you are not trying to lure them into a scam.

Tip #7: Don’t be a Robot

Automation is a good way to save time and energy on social media but it isn’t always good. Too much automation can make you seem like a robot – a unrelatable robot. Choose which parts of your campaign you automate and keep the rest real.

A journey of a thousand followers begins with a single step — that’s choosing the right provider. Do not jump on the first provider you see and do not let the price be the deciding factor. Nitpick a provider’s reputation, history and credibility before signing up, doing so now can spare you from a lot of headaches later on – luckily, there are already a handful of Twitter followers Provider reviews that anyone interested can search for.

Once you have chosen a provider and you have a solid amount of followers that boosts your credibility and persona online, know that the fight is just beginning. Consistently vanguard the quality of all your tweeting activities and look out for your followers – so they can look out for you.

PROJECT EVE MEDIA

Project Eve Media is social media management company with a concentration on lead generation and sales. We position our clients for success through social media management services, social media advertising services, website design, and content marketing.